When you send a group text message in iOS, it appears as if you automatically opt in to receive any and all replies to that message. Is there a way to avoid being included in group replies? Is there a way to remove oneself from a group chat?

7 Answers
7

As Messages and SMS integration + iMessage is designed today, this can not be done.

What you could do is:

block the people and leave SMS / iMessage enabled

place that conversation on Do Not Disturb so you don't get notifications from that group

enable no notifications for either SMS or iMessage

turn off iCloud Messages entirely

disable SMS entirely

Just as you can't block a number or email from sending you an iMessage - there is no technical way to get others to not send you a group message (other than by exerting social pressure to exclude you from further communications).

I haven’t been able to find anything playing on my phone, and several forum posts suggest that it can’t be done:

Just got off the phone with Apple tech support. They admitted there is no way to remove yourself from an iMessage group chat. The tech guy says the best thing we can do is go to http://www.apple.com/feedback

There’s also a Reddit thread in which huntard713 suggests (October, 2011):

Settings-Messages. Turn group messaging off.

It's now November 2011 and I can’t find this setting on my iPhone, and this was in response to a slightly different problem (about who sees the other participants in a group iMessage, so I don’t know how effective this.

I’m sorry this doesn’t really answer your question; for now at least, it looks like you can’t leave a group iMessage.

The only way to end the group chat is have everyone delete it of their iPhones's. To do that, slide your finger over the chat, where the list of conversations are. That only deletes it off your iPhone, so everyone will have to delete it off their iPhone. Some people will keep talking there, so everyone would get it back. If you don't send any messages in the chat, and tell the other people not to talk there (In private message), eventually people will stop texting in the chat.

You have to turn off iMessage until everyone finally stops talking in the group chat, while turning off iMessage you have to also turn off group messages on mms/SMS setting under messages. It's not the ideal way but it's the best we can do until they solve the issue.

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